BlackBerry bans violate “right of free use,” says Clinton

More countries are considering a ban on BlackBerrys due to security concerns. …

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is getting involved in the dispute between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Research In Motion (RIM) over UAE's BlackBerry ban. Clinton said during a press conference Thursday that the US government was helping to work out a compromise between the UAE and RIM on the matter, but the issue may get more complex as more countries hop on the BlackBerry-banning bandwagon.

The UAE got the ball rolling earlier this week with its decision to block the use of RIM's services unless the government could get access to encrypted e-mails sent and received by BlackBerry users. That ruling was quickly followed by a similar one in Saudi Arabia, and now Lebanon's Telecoms Regulatory Authority says that it, too, is considering the security implications of allowing BlackBerry use within the country. India is also said to be putting pressure on RIM to allow government access to user data.

Clinton described the situation as a "complex set of issues" and said that the US was working on a solution with several countries.

"We are taking time to consult and analyze the full range of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern, but there’s also a legitimate right of free use and access," she said. "So I think we will be pursuing both technical and expert discussions as we go forward."

The issue involves RIM's strong encryption and the fact that BlackBerry messages are immediately sent to external servers (many in Canada) that make it difficult for some governments to get access to the information on them.

UAE's ban isn't expected to go into effect until October 11, so there's time to work out a deal, though Saudi Arabia's ban is supposed to take effect today.